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Topic: Temple Village Midlothian (Read 102730 times)

I came across this a photo taken by John Furnevel, this is known as the Lothian Bridge built in 1847 and was the main line to Edinburgh, this may be where your 2nd G Grandfather was killed, it's the only one I know of in the area.

The interior of the Viaduct is overgrown as you can see in the photo, when they closed the Railway the chap who owns the Caravan Site purchased it for the sum total of £1.00 ( one pound ), as it was going to cost the railway a fortune to knock it down or repair it. The railway now want to re-open the line and asked how much he would sell it back for, his reply was one Million pounds, now that's what I call a profit.

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Thank you very much for the photographs. Yes, Charles Hitchiner, who came from Faversham in Kent, recruited most of his gunpowder workforce from England. I knew my 4th and 3rd G Grandparents were buried in lair 115 but didn't know that my 2nd G Grandparents were also in the same grave, so thank you very much for that information.

Many thanks,Maggie

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What great work you have done!! I have a query re the WEST family which is waiting for a reply. In the meantime I'd like to compare what you have for this tombstone with the transcription I have, which I know contains many errors.

Hi Fred, this is what I have on record at the end, if there are any additions I would love to have them please, and what they did for a living.

I thought at first wrongly that G & J West were brothers, but the " G " West is the sister, as it states " The above Grace West died in 1896 " it had me going for a while.

As Grace was married to William Walker I would have thought they would have put her married name on the stone in stead of " West ". We have to think like them away back then, many married women were still known by friends and neighbours by their maiden name, for instance, " I see Grace West died " instead of " I see Grace Walker died " I hope you can see where I am coming from.

The 1888-1996 Record Book is very badly kept, many of the family names are missing and details plus dates, I have no idea if this was kept at first by the church or in charge of the council, whoever was in charge of it should have been sacked.

They must all be buried in the one Lair, as you can see by the plan it is one of the largest.

Erected by G & J West in memory of their brother William who died 15th November 1869 aged 25 years, Margaret daughter of the above J. West died 22nd January 1875 aged 2 ½ years. Their Father George died 10th March 1880 aged 62 Years. Their Mother Grace Horne died 9th September 1885 aged 65 years. The above Grace West died 5th July 1896 aged 56 years. Also the above Joseph West died 5th December 1898 aged 47 years. Margaret Sheddon Wife of the above Joseph West died 6th December 1926 aged 86 years. Charles Sheddon Father in Law of the above Joseph West died 9th April 1880 aged 78 years. William Walker Husband of the above Grace West died 2nd November 1895 aged 75 years.

Thank you very much. Yes, it is a very large Lair. After checking death records from SP and after zooming into the image I think this is the best fit I can see:

Erected by G. & J. West in loving memory of their brother William whodied 1st November 1869 aged 25 years, Margaret daughter of theabove J. West died 22nd January 1875 aged 2 ½ years. Also their FatherGeorge died 10th March 1880 aged 62 Years. Their Mother GraceHorne died 9th September 1885 aged 65 years. Also the above GraceWest died 5th July 1896 aged 55 years. Also the above Joseph Westdied 5th December 1898 aged 47 years. Margaret Sheddon Wife ofthe above Joseph West died 16th December 1926 aged 86 years.Charles Sheddon Father in Law of the above J. West died 9thApril 1880 aged 78 years. William Walker Husband of the aboveG. West died 2nd November 1895 aged 75 years.

I'm an Australian from Sydney but currently in SE Asia. My connection to the WEST family is by the marriage of George & Grace's first child, Catherine born 1838.

George was a cooper at a gunpowder mill. I have copies of the death certificates for George and Grace if you'd like them. I have the SP index entries for a lot of the births and deaths too.

many thanks for your reply, and thanks for informing me of the Trade, the gunpowder mill would be at Stobbs, not one of the best places to work in but a job was a job in those days, Clayhouses came under Gorebridge and of course Stobbs and Gorebridge came under the Parish of Temple.

Please send a copy of the certificates if you don't mind, in fact if you can send anything that would be fantastic, these would go into my records.

I was in Sunny Brisbane in September and October last year, what a wonderful country Australia is and the people were so kind and helpful. Helen's cousins live in the suburbs, one in a place called Fernyhills about 30 minutes from the Airport and the other in a place called Elimbah about 1 hour from the Airport.

I am afraid the spiders and snakes got to me, looking out for them all the time, I had a very close encounter with a brown snake, it was at my feet, talk about shaking well I froze like God knows what, other than that a fantastic holiday.

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